


Give the World, Expect Nothing in Return

by roxyryoko



Series: Drabbles in the Dark [15]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Caspar is whipped and you can't convince me he wouldn't be, F/M, Holst take a chill pill, Insecurity, Motherhood, Post-Canon, nursery plans, paired ending, pregnancy details are very light, supportive husband
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:01:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23721256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roxyryoko/pseuds/roxyryoko
Summary: “Precisely. I can’t help but predict your enthusiasm will wane when your movement becomes further hindered. Your lack of persistence has been an unfortunate trend long before your current...predicament.” His eyes flicked back towards his papers.Hilda stiffened and her eyes fell to the table. It wasn’t like her brother was exactly wrong.Hilda had been surprisingly hard at work with preparations for her and Caspar's first child, but Holst's comments tug at her fears of falling short as a good mother. Luckily, Caspar doesn't agree.
Relationships: Caspar von Bergliez/Hilda Valentine Goneril
Series: Drabbles in the Dark [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1590193
Comments: 13
Kudos: 55
Collections: Those Who Drabble in the Dark





	Give the World, Expect Nothing in Return

**Author's Note:**

> This week's prompt is "childhood-- a look into a character's upbringing, or them starting a family of their own." And finally, I got to do my OTP for a drabble again!

“Hilda, do you need any favors?” Caspar practically begged, fingers tapping in rhythm with the pulse of his foot as he slouched across the parlor table.

Hilda’s lips quirked into an amused smile at the question. His overzealousness to tend to her every whim, indulgence, and request since they found out they were to be parents never ceased to be endearing. Even if that offer of aid arose due to restlessness as it clearly did now.

Across the room, Holst reclined snugly in his favorite armchair, sipping tea and scrutinizing over some report on trade or taxes or the border or—well, honestly, Hilda couldn’t bother to care about the details. She did, however, sympathize with Caspar’s current state of purgatory.

Despite being Hilda’s husband, Holst was still his lord, and unfortunately, his lord hadn’t dismissed him. 

And tea had ended an hour ago.

With nimble fluidity, she pushed a silky pink thread through the fabric held in her hand, slowly forming the silhouette of a small flower. Next to it a delicate pattern of completed anemone designs danced around the corner of the small blanket. Hilda paused the next stitch when the needle just broke the weave and then slid two small oil paintings in front of Caspar. 

“Sure do,” she said, slightly distracted as she inspected her embroidery.

The newest flower looked rather pathetic in comparison to its neighbor, but she laid the blanket down in her lap nevertheless. Or tried anyway. Part of the fabric clung to the bump of her stomach. Hilda suppressed a frown. She was growing increasingly unhappy with _that_ aspect of pregnancy despite how eager everyone was to pamper her.

Forcibly, her attention shifted to Caspar. “I can’t decide which of these will look cuter on the walls of the nursery. A second opinion would mean the world to me.”

She leaned on his shoulder, eyelashes fluttering, and slinked her arm through his own, wrapping her fingers around his bicep. Caspar’s digits stopped drumming and he sighed.

“Any favors that involve leaving the room?” His voice fell low—well, at least Caspar’s idea of low. “Or just _standing_?”

He glanced anxiously at Holst.

“Nope,” she replied with mirth. “Only got just the one.”

He heaved another sigh and strained his focus onto the paintings. He deliberated over them a moment, eyes darting back and forth, back and forth, brows slowly sloping downward into further distress, foot increasing its beat.

“I don’t know,” he confessed after some time. “Someone like Ignatz would have a better eye for this than I do.”

“Ignatz, huh,” Hilda mused, scrutinizing her paintings more callously now.

The idea of painting a mural on the wall had seemed fun when she first thought of it. Not only would it be completely adorable, something in her hoped a whimsical environment would instill a sense of safety and encourage sweet dreams as her child was lulled to sleep. Yet, now that she looked over her work, she couldn't help but doubt if her brushstrokes could achieve that.

“Maybe I should just commission him. He’s bound to do a much better job than I ever could.”

“Hey, now.” Caspar raised his gaze to find hers, and when she avoided it, he took her chin in his hand. “That’s not what I meant at all.”

He grinned at her with all the sincerity that always loomed in the corners of his lips and grazed his thumb tenderly across her jawline before he dropped his hand.

“You’ll do a great job, Hilda!" he beamed. "You’re really talented! In fact, I can’t wait to see it!”

He looked back down at the paintings and concentrated more determinedly.

“Art just isn’t really my thing, but I guess if I really have to choose...I’d go with this one.” He pointed to the left painting. It depicted a flock of wyvern soaring across a starlit night sky. 

Hilda pinched her nose. “Eh, you think so? I would hate for the baby to have nightmares if I paint the wyvern too scary.” 

“Okay, then,” Caspar huffed, not hiding his vexation. “That one.”

He gestured to the other painting with pegasi flying and horses galloping in front of a glittering pink sea at sunset. It was the one she was more partial towards, and even if it was forced, his validation made her more confident in it.

“I knew you’d agree!” she chirped and kissed his cheek so his brow softened. “It’s more gender-neutral anyway. So it will be fitting no matter what the Goddess surprises us with.”

“It would be wise to pick the one you know you can accomplish, Hilda,” Holst suddenly interjected, his admonishment piercing through her like an arrow.

Both Hilda’s and Caspar’s attention shifted to him. He peered up from above his report, but Hilda could still make out how his brows were drawn in that familiar, irritating way they always did when he chastised her.

“You do not have much longer to dawdle,” he added.

Hilda rolled her eyes. “Thanks for stating the obvious, Holst. Like, wow, really hadn’t noticed how round I am getting.”

“Precisely. I can’t help but predict your enthusiasm will wane when your movement becomes further hindered. Your lack of persistence has been an unfortunate trend long before your current...predicament.” His eyes flicked back towards his papers.

Hilda stiffened and her eyes fell to the table. It wasn’t like her brother was exactly wrong.

Without warning, Caspar found the top of her hand on the table and laced his fingers through hers. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Holst,” Caspar objected. “When Hilda sets her mind on something the results are always pretty amazing.”

He squeezed her hand. “This time’s not gonna be any different.”

Holst glanced up again and offered a noncommittal “hmm” before he returned to his reading. 

After a moment of awkward silence, Caspar snapped his attention back to Hilda. “Do you need us to go to town for any of the paints or whatever you need for this?” he asked, tapping the paper.

She knew the gesture was both an attempt to be encouraging and a desperate ploy to leave the parlor. Still, she appreciated it, and still, it was a good method to acquire other favors spurred by her cravings and discomforts.

“I suppose I do need some things, but my feet really, really hurt. I can’t imagine that strolling through the market would be very fun.” She rubbed the top of her foot against his shin. A foot massage, well, that might encourage some walking. “Unless, there was a way they didn’t—”

“I’ll go,” he said quickly. “Just give me a list or something.”

“That reminds me,” Holst spoke up again. “Did you come to a decision on a nanny? You’ve been ‘deliberating’ over the list for nearly a moon.”

“Um, no,” Hilda admitted with a huff. “Not yet. Been a tiny bit preoccupied.”

“Well, then. I require your selection by the end of the week. Actually, grant me at least three options. You’ll surely need an auxiliary once you wear the first into a quick resignation with all your insistent demands.” He chuckled. 

The glare Caspar shot at him proved he didn’t find it funny.

Hurt and anger swelled in Hilda’s chest. “You make it sound like I’m not going to lift a finger to care for my own baby.” 

“Cmon, Holst,” Caspar interjected. “Hilda’s got this. And I’m gonna help, too, when I can.”

Caspar’s comment earned him an incredulous look from Holst. He smiled ruefully and leaned forward. “Come now, Caspar. Let us not fool ourselves into believing Hilda’s...lackadaisical nature is befitting of motherhood.”

Stupid tears pricked Hilda’s eyes and she bit her lip in attempt to hold them back. She wanted to raise her voice in protest, to deny that she would have any shortcomings as a mother, but a toxic voice nagged the back of her mind, tainting her insecurities even darker. Her tongue was dry on the roof of her mouth. Who was she kidding? Motherhood came hand in hand with so many expectations. Of course, she would fall short.

In a blink, Caspar bolted to his feet, knocking his chair back against the wall with a clap. His hands clenched tightly into fists and he was vibrating with anger. He glared at Holst and demanded, “You take that back!” 

Hilda gaped, but snapped out of it quickly. She pulled on his sleeve, urging him to sit, but he didn’t budge. 

Holst’s eyes narrowed. “Mind your place, von Bergliez.”

“Show some respect to your sister!” Caspar shouted, practically snarling. “Stop berating her! She’s not ‘lackadaisical’ or lazy or whatever else you keep calling her!”

His voice grew louder with each word and Hilda’s fingers slacked on his sleeve as he continued his defense.

“She fought in a war! As a general! And it was thanks to her we always had a full purse during our travels! She made a ton of jewelry and it always sold out! After doing all that I think she can handle being a mother just fine!”

Caspar’s tone grew softer. “In fact, I think she’s gonna be great at it. Hilda’s the most kindhearted and attentive person I know.”

A flush swept over Hilda’s cheeks.

Holst remained silent a moment and then looked down at his lap in what Hilda could almost confuse as shame. “I suppose my teasing was taken a step too far,” he conceded.

Her brother fixed his eyes on hers, and looked surprisingly sympathetic. “I apologize, Hilda. Caspar’s right. You have matured much since the academy.” 

Hilda turned her gaze away and waved her hand. “Yeah, yeah,” she said. “You say that now and this time tomorrow you’ll be back to the same old criticisms.”

She spied a glance at him and noticed guilt break across his visage.

“N-no, I shan’t!” he sputtered. “Forgive me, Hilda. I’ve been failing to acknowledge your accomplishments and today I have been unreasonably cruel.”

He clambered to his feet and crossed the room to stand in front of her. “Please know that in my heart I do not doubt that you’ll be a fine mother. I mean it with all the sincerity in my bones.”

Holst’s arms wrapped around her shoulders and crushed her into a hug. She squirmed and tried to push him away as her face grew redder, but his grip was unrelenting.

“I’d keep the praise coming, Holst,” Caspar chided. “You got a lot to make up for.”

He crossed his arms and Hilda had to stifle a giggle.

Instead of laughing, she groaned, “Enough’s enough! Both of you! Sheeesh! So embarrassing!”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you like this ship, please check out my other works for them!


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